TV Nerd News #9

It’s Tuesday so you know what that means: TV Nerd News! That’s right, TVNN is back for another installment of your favorite weekly TV news roundup! This week features some bittersweet news for Breaking Bad fans but some potentially good news for the remaining two Heroes fans out there. Anyways, enough with the vague introductions; let’s actually talk about this week’s news!

4/17 – MSN is making their own push into original, scripted programming; looking to revive HEROES

Following in the steps of Hulu, Netflix and Amazon, MSN is making a concerted effort to get into the original, scripted programming game for their Xbox systems and their first target: former NBC drama Heroes! I’m really not sure what to think of this story, mostly because the series would feature new stories and heroes. Which begs the question: why not just create your own series? The answer to that question is the same reason why reboots continue to exist in Hollywood: name recognition. Now, I can’t really fault MSN for trying to make its foray into original programming as easy as possible (what easier way than to capitalize on something already established?) but the transparency of the move is just way too obvious for me not to get a little irked by it. The fact that I don’t think there’s anything incredibly interesting to mine out of that universe anymore probably doesn’t help, either.

4/17– Fox cancels one of its million Seth McFarlane shows: THE CELVELAND SHOW

Well, it hasn’t officially been canceled but Fox is not renewing their contract with the studio for the series. This move makes a lot of sense when you consider that Fox has a live action Seth McFarlane (Ted) show being developed right now called Dads. By not renewing The Cleveland Show, they open up a spot on their Sunday schedule with the rest of McFarlane’s shows but, at the same time, The Cleveland Show will have reached enough episodes (88) by the end of its current fourth season that it can be sold into syndication. That’s incredibly smart business practice and while Fox is rightfully criticized for its treatment of new shows (Ben & Kate was wonderful you idiots), there’s no denying how savvy this move is.

Finally! That’s right, AMC has finally set the premiere date for the second half of Breaking Bad‘s final Season 5: August 11, 2013! While it’s great to finally hear a firm date other than just “Summer” for the show, the fact that it’s going to be starting again almost a year (11 months, actually) after the previous half ended is pretty dumb. I think I’ve made my feelings about AMC clear when I’ve talked about the drama regarding them and The Walking Dead crew but I really don’t get this move. I don’t get it because the only reason you air a show almost a year after it ended is because of arrogance. And by that mean, the network is so confident that people will watch it that they can delay it for as long as they like, knowing they’ll retain a majority of their audience. Don’t even get me started on the fact that they even split the final season of Breaking Bad into two because to me, that just reeks of trying to get as many Emmys as possible before the show ends. What is smart, though, is pairing new series Low Winter Sun with Breaking Bad, as it will premiere on August 11, 2013 as well, immediately following Breaking Bad.

It’s not often that a show gets renewed for a second season after only airing the pilot, even for premium cable channels like Starz. So, it was a bit surprising to hear the news that they already renewed the new series DaVinci’s Demons for another season. While the ratings for its debut were better than expected, critics weren’t as kind to the series as the general public, as most reviews I’ve seen have been negative for it. However, like I stated on Twitter, I think people needed to adjust their expectations of what the show is compared to what they thought it would be. I knew going in that it would be pure popcorn entertainment, like a TV version of Pirates of the Caribbean and that allowed me to enjoy the premiere and every review I’ve read seems to indicate that the reviewer had different expectations. The show is by no means groundbreaking, nor will it contend for Emmys on a yearly basis but it doesn’t try to pretend to be those things either. It just bothers me when critics automatically call a show bad, based purely on its pilot/premiere, because they expected something completely different than what they got.

4/18 – More talk about Seth McFarlane’s new series DADS as casting changes take place

I really couldn’t care less about McFarlane’s current shows on Fox but I have to admit, I’m pretty intrigued by Dads. Not only does it feature Seth Green (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) but now it also features Giovani Ribisi (Avatar), replacing the previously cast Tommy Dewey (The Mindy Project)! The show centers on two thirtysomethings (Green and Ribisi) who are forced to live with their nightmare fathers (Peter Riegart [The Mask] and Martin Mull [Sabrina, the Teenage Witch]). The premise isn’t exactly amazing but it features a great cast, including Ribisi who I happen to find incredibly underrated so it’s nice to see him get regular work, even if it is for a Seth McFarlane show.

That’s it for this week! If you haven’t checked it out yet, yesterday’s FNN features some interesting stories and as always, be on the lookout for another edition of Trailer Tuesday in just a little bit. As always, in the mean time, check me out on Twitter @kyle_igr and the site @igresponsibly.